


Sorrows Volume 1

by ThePeaceluffer



Series: Sorrows [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mental Instability, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-05-16 17:50:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5835040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePeaceluffer/pseuds/ThePeaceluffer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Volume 1 - In the beginning</p><p>The Strawhats land on a seemingly peaceful island and meet a strange, red-clad woman. After showing a considerable amount of strength, Luffy decides to take her with them on their voyage, but will she accept?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A new Island

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter, sorry.  
> They'll get longer later on, I promise.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

The straw hat pirates where just sailing in their new Sunny Go. Zoro was enjoying his new weight room to the fullest while Nami was in her tangerine grove, Sanji was trying new things for Robin and Nami to taste while Chopper was busy in his medical room, Robin was reading in her library with a cup of coffee while Franky and Usopp where playing cards. And Luffy? Well... he was doing things that Luffy's do, I guess...

One moment, Zoro put down his weights and went outside onto the little balcony Franky had made for his room up top, for a little break and maybe a "little" nap. He looked at the horizon, while a cool little breeze was softly toughing his bare and sweaty chest.  Zoro could see nothing but a deep blue ocean and a clear blue sky with a cloud here and there. He turned around and saw a spot between the ocean and the sky, a big spot, a big green spot, a big green spot with a yellow/white lining, AN ISLAND!!!! "MINA (everyone)! I CAN SEE AN ISLAND!!!" Zoro yelled. Immediately everyone came onto the deck and looked in the direction Zoro was pointing in.

"Yoho! A new island!" Luffy yelled in excitement.  
"Great! I want to get more supplies." Chopper said. He was running low on medicines and bandages.  
"And more books!" Robin added, she read so fast that she already read like 20 books only this week.Nami looked at her Log Pose and saw that this was the island they had been heading to the last week.  
"Okay! Let's head to it, it doesn't seem very hostile."  
"Maybe I'll finally get a musician! And a bronzen statue of course." Luffy added to it all.  
"Why do you need a bronzen statue?" Usopp asked Luffy.  
"Because it looks cool." Luffy answered.  
"That can be, but it could damage the ship and it would be a lot of extra weight." Franky said, playing the devil's advocate.  
"You guys are unfair!"


	2. Books and a Strange Woman

Once on shore, they split up into small groups. Zoro stayed to watch over the ship (otherwise he wouldn't be back before dinner), Nami went to draw a map of the island with Usopp, Luffy and Franky went exploring randomly and the others went to find a town. Sanji for food, Robin and Chopper for medical suplies and of course for books.

The three of them were walking down a road when some houses appeared on the horizon. It didn't look like a big town, but once they walked past those first houses, they found out that the village had been built on a hill. Sanji told his flamboyant farewells to Robin and skipped away with his cart.Robin simply waved with a smile and the the two continued their search for a bookstore. Luckily, Nami had been easy on them with the fines.

After some succesful findings and a filled up backpack, the two were searching for a nice café, when Robin noticed a strange presence coming closer. It was an aggressive presence, distant as if someone was mentally telling people to stay away. Robin looked around and saw the source walking the opposite direction. A peculiar woman was walking in the middle of the street. Her mental warning seemed to work as people would move away from her path. She had dark red, seemingly not moving hair with even darker, dull red eyes. Wearing a dark red longsleeve with a strange whirlpool-like patern on it. It was quite a wide shirt, hiding whatever was under it. There was only one thing the shirt gave away and that was that it was old. The ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt were ragged and the colour of the shirt was faded. Some black jeans and black boots completed the extraordinary dark outfit.

A group of children were playing on the street. One boy wasn't looking in front of him while running and ran straight into the peculiar woman's legs. For some reason, time seemed to have stopped. All the villagers surrounding the scene had stopped with whatever the hell they were doing and had turned towards the two in the middle, looking anxious. Both Chopper and Robin were kind of confused. What was going on? What was going to happen? Is there indeed something weird and/or dangerous about the woman that makes this such a terrifying thing to happen? If yes, will Luffy have to fight her or will he drag her with him on their journey?

The little boy looked up at the woman and started shaking in fear as she stared in his eyes with a dull gaze. She sighed and moved her hand towards the boys head, he shut his eyes and waited for something bad to happen, and then she pat him on the head. "Watch where you're going next time, okay?" She told him and he quickly nodded. She then walked past him and to wherever she was headed. The boy was looking at the ground with wide eyes when a woman, maybe his mother, ran up to him and checked on him before picking him up and walking away.

"What just happened?" Chopper asked confused.  
"I don't know." Robin returned.  
"Should we go ask her? Or ask around?"  
"Well, we've got our books, I don't see why not." Robin smiled.

The two walked around, asking random people about the strange woman, but other than, 'Just don't anger her and you'll be fine.' People wouldn't say anything, until a shaky voice comming from a dark alley said, "Come here, I'll tell you two about her." Chopper looked at Robin and Robin at Chopper. Of course, walking into a dark alley because someone asked you to come is never a good idea, but considering the shakyness from the voice and their own strength, the two walked into the alley.

 


	3. Tsukote Amie

Softly humming, Sanji strolled through the market with his cart on a quest to find some quality food. The fruit and vegetables were great, but it seemed that meat wasn't a very desired thing here. It was mostly fish that he could find. _'_ _Luffy_ _is_ _not_ _going to_ _be_ _happy_ _...'_ He thought.

A good while later, Sanji sighed in defeat while he parked his cart in an alley and lit up a cigarette. As he inhaled and exhaled the addictive smoke, he looked around at the busy people. Two older looking women close to him were talking loud enough for Sanji to hear. The main topics: There's a sale at a clothing store and we have to check that out later, my husband is starting to act weird is he cheating on me?! and plans for dinner tonight. Sanji kept listening to the oddly amusing talk until the mood suddenly changed.  
"She's coming!"  
"Who?"  
"SHE!"  
"Oh! She! Well you wanna check that sale out now then?"  
"Sure!"  
And so the two ladies walked away.

Slightly confused, Sanji looked into the direction the two were looking in and found 'she'. The unknown red-clad woman was still walking in the same direction as she was when Robin and Chopper met with her, with the same dull look in her eyes and the same distant aura around her. Though our Casanova was of course unaffected by the last one. After all, she didn't look bad. With Sanji's perv-skills, he could still see a nice figure under that big, old shirt, or so he thought. A bit thin, he presumed, but who cares right? He went towards her, doing his infamous spaghetti dance. The woman noticed his weird attitude and wanted to avoid him and walk past him, but mister prince can not be avoided.  
"Why hello there, beautiful. Why the sad face? Something bothering you?" He asked her.  
"No, I'm fine. Could you let me pass?" She asked him in return. Sanji then thought of a new plan that just might get him a date.

"Say, I have a good bit of money left, how about I buy you drink or go shop with you for a bit?" He suggested.  
"No! Now let me pass! And why would you even ask a random woman to go on a date, out of nowhere in the middle of the street?!" She snapped at him.  
"That is, because," Sanji got on one knee and held the woman's right hand. "I will protect, serve and please every lady I can!" He told her, like the idiot he is. He tried to kiss her hand, but before his lips could touch her skin, she pulled away her hand, smacked him across the face with the back of her hand and then Sanji could feel something touch his back before he got grabbed by it and lifted into the air. People around had already started losing interest in what they had been doing previously and instead watched as the new guy got grabbed by a metallic arm/tentacle. Sanji tried to break free, but before he could say anything about it, his head met with the brick wall of the house next to them with enough speed and strength to go through the hard, sturdy obstacle.

As Sanji lied in the rubble, coughing up dust, he could see her sigh and continue walking. "A devil fruit user huh?" He softly mused.

\--------------

"Well then." The old man said. Chopper and Robin had walked into the dark alley and soon met with a cranky old man with a bottle of some sort of booze. "So you want to know about this island's abomination?!" He asked Robin and she nodded. Chopper was still in his reindeer form and it was probably better to just stay that way for now. "It is quite a story, you know? You might end up running back to your ship with your tail in between your legs! If your ship hasn't been destroyed yet, that is." He threatened them. Chopper gulped once, but suspicions and worrying about Zoro's and the ship's safety aside, they stayed to listen. It's not like Zoro will immediately turn hostile plus he's proven to be quite durable. "Suit yourself." The man said.

"GILLY!" He then suddenly shouted.  
"What?" A female voice shouted back.  
"BRING ME MY BOOZE!" He commanded.  
A short while later, the door opened and a young woman came out with a bottle of wine and gave it to him.  
"You could get off your lazy ass once in a while and get something by yourself!" She told him.  
"Don't you talk to your elders like that." He shouted at her and waved his cane at her. The woman rolled her eyes and then looked at the stranger and her weird pet in front of her.  
"You scaring people with your stories again?" She asked the old man.  
"I was about to tell them about that so-called 'protector' of ours." He explained.  
"This'll be fun." She commented and leaned against the wall before the old man finally started.

"Her name, is Tsukote Amie..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About Sanji not attacking the two women with weird love-shit like he usually does, the two women are ' older-looking', Sanji still respects them as beautiful ladies, but he prefers the younger ones.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Backstory time :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amie is pronounced the same as Nami but the e in the end is pronounced as an a, Ami-a literally. But when adding things like -chan it sounds strange so then it's changed into Ami: Ami-chan. (If I'm ever going to use things like that)

"It all started 2-3 years ago, when she arrived on this island. God did she look awful! Big cuts, covered in blood and coughing it up too!" The old man started, already grabbing hold of Robin's (and Chopper's) attention.  
"Oh you liar you! She wasn't covered in blood and she only had a big bandage around her arm! She was walking a bit funny though, so there were probably more wounds... But she wasn't coughing up blood!" Gilly, who was probably his granddaughter interrupted him.  
"Damnit woman! Go back to the kitchen and let me tell my damn story!" The old man shouted at her and swung his cane at her, at which she just rolled her eyes... again...  
"Anyways, she was in bad shape. People did want to help her of course, but she wouldn't let anyone close to her. If someone would, she'd walk away from them and make a weird muffled sound. You know, like when, say you're afraid of, I dunno, wasps and one gets close to you. You get me?" He asked Robin and she nodded.  
"Good. Anyways, she was walking around town looking for something, until she found our island's doctor and went in. Afterwards, people asked the doctor what had happened yesterday and where she was. The doctor in return said that she had disappeared at night and he had no idea where she was and that he wasn't allowed to tell them anything about what had happened due to privacy. After that we hadn't seen her for months. Some kids who were playing in the woods had seen her busy with a shack, but other than that, nothing, until an unlucky bunch of pirates arrived on this island and decided to make this place their next target!" The old man said before taking some big gulps of the wine. In the meantime Robin looked up at Gilly to see if there were any 'small mistakes' that her grandpa had maken.  
"Nope, that's the truth so far." She said.

"So one day a fisherman was off to the shore to try and catch some fish, but once he got there he saw an unfamiliar ship landing on shore. He didn't know whose ship it was, but it was definitely a pirate ship! I know he knew because he told me this story 2 years ago! So he found a ship with many men busy getting ready to visit the village, in other words go and raid it. So the fisherman was panicking! What would he do? Would he stay to see just what they we're going to do? Or would he just run for the village to warn them? If he chose the first he might be back too late for everyone to properly get ready for a fight, but if he ran now that son-of-a-bitch-pirate standing so close to him might notice him and chase him down and being the old man that he was, that pirate would probably win as well!" The old man rambled on when Gilly started sighing.  
"What is it now?!" The old man shouted irritated.  
"This is taking too long. I'm going back in." She said and got up. "Don't believe everything he says." She told Robin. "She's not as bad as everyone thinks." And then Gilly went inside.

"Whatever, at least she can't bother me now!" Old man said and Robin wondered if Gilly should be the one saying that.  
"So anyways, where were we again... Oh right, the fisherman was in trouble. So he was wondering what he should do, when suddenly he (and everyone else) heard a female voice. "Who are you?" Just there, out of nowhere. He looked around and there she was, that weird woman who disappeared for months just after she had appeared had now reappeared and asked these strangers who they were. She had to ask the question again a couple of times before anyone responded, but then finally the captain of the bunch made his grand entrance and boastfully talked about 'how dare you not know me!' and his great bounty and everything. Heck I've forgotten his name already!" He continued, though Robin wouldn't call a period of two years 'already'... "In any case, it was clear that this pirate and his pirate friends were not gonna go easy on our asses. "And who are you then, if you're brave enough to ask such a thing to-" whatever-his-name-was asked, at which she didn't respond. "You disobeying me, you little bitch?!" He then shouted at her and after another silent treatment he got mad and ended up actually chaining her up against a tree! "That'll teach you! No one alive is allowed to ignore my commands!" He scolded her and she didn't resist. "Why the chains?" She then asked him. "Experience." The captain answered. If only he knew just how big the mistake was that he made... "So let me get this clear. You're a pirate who's gonna go and raid this village with his pirate friends." The woman summed up and the pirate's pretty much agreed.

Suddenly, the weirdest thing happened in front of them. The chain holding her up against the tree started moving! Not much, just a little, but it moved! It moved like a snake around her waist, shapeshifting from time to time. The captain was confused, just what in the world was happening, was she doing it? "What are you... What is she... What are you doing?!" He shouted at her, but she wouldn't reply again. She just stared at him with those dark red eyes of her, until a thin long piece of metal started forming on the moving chain, which then suddenly shot out and quickly penetrated every last man through the heart, except for the captain, who she had hit in the stomach. The woman was still attached to the tree and the string of metal connecting all the dying men like a sick, twisted necklace, was also still attached. Then the metal fell down and she walked toward the cringing captain. "W-who...a-are...you...?" He got out of his throat before coughing up some more blood. "My name is Tsukote Amie." She told him. "And no one is going to raid or destroy this village. Not on my watch!" She promised him, but he was dead already before she was able to finish it.

That's all I know about that incident, since the fisherman fled after that." The old man finished his story.  
"Well I don't see how that's so bad...: Robin told him. Unusual, yes, but extreme enough for the village to be afraid of her or just dislike her?  
"That's because that's not all of it! Yes, we were glad to have someone who could take down the pirates, so when we knew that she'd run around the island every day to see if there were any new ships, we put up a system of voluntary children, who'd each check their own part of the coast. If there was a ship, they'd call Amie and tell her where it was. It worked well and indeed no harmful ships ever saw the village. That woman earned quite a bit from getting all of those bounties. Not that many ships came here. Once or twice a month a ship would show up and it wasn't always a bad pirate ship either, but since the bounties could rise up to a million belli or more, it was more than enough. Heck, she only came into town to buy a bit of greens and alcohol once in a while, but whenever she came, we made sure she knew just how thankful we were. Thanking and praising her, inviting her for free drinks, wanting to give a party for her, but she always said no or would just ignore us. Until one day she decided to go to a bar and drink with the locals for once. It went well, I guess. A man had joined her and the two talked through the evening while some of that fellow's friends joined in. Well, they talked and she listened. Anyways, so a good couple of hours later, she got up, said bye and left. The men then went after her for some reason, but after some loud noises and screaming, the bartender went outside to see what had happened. Bodies or some loose parts were what was left of the men and Amie was no where to be seen. And so she once again disappeared for a couple of months." The old man finished the second part. Robin could understand the village's opinion by now a bit more. Four dead man might not be that much of a deal for her and the rest, but for a village like this, it must've been the shock of the century!

"Unfortunately, there were some more incidents which ensured us that she was nothing but a crazed killer." The old man continued and so Robin (and Chopper) was (where) pulled in for the third part of this 'history lesson'.  
"One day, after Amie took down a ship, a young man came into town, shouting, "Where is the red woman!" over and over. Apparently, he was a part of the crew she finished this morning and somehow survived. As usual when people starting asking about Amie, we'd just tell them not to worry and just forget about her and to just stay clear of her, since she'd come back to the village after her 'hibernation' and she had become even more distant and seemed just plain angry when people would approach her, so we had become distant towards her as well. Eventually, the young man got sick of it, grabbed someone and shouted he'd kill her if we wouldn't tell him where he could find the 'red woman', so we gave up and pointed towards the woods north of the village. All we know about what happened after that was that when we heard him shouting towards her it was followed by a scream and then silence. No one bothered to investigate, both of fear that they'd end up the same way and knowing that she always manages to get rid of the bodies and most of the evidence." The old man finished. Robin by now, was rather speechless, as was Chopper (though he was silent anyways), until Robin finally spoke.  
"Is that the whole story?" She asked him.  
"No... I'm afraid not.... About the last incident.... We don't really know much about what happened... but..." The old man spoke softly. Unlike before when he told everything as vivid as he could, right now, it sounded like he'd rather not talk about it, so telling Robin (and Chopper) about this part was probably more of a warning or maybe even a plead for help!  
"One day... she came into town, but she looked... different... she wasn't exactly normal usually, but at least she used to look sane! At that moment she looked more l-like an insane monster. She was shaking a bit, eyes wide open, looking around frantically and mumbling something incomprehensible over and over again... so someone went towards her.... asked her if she was alright.... and then she.... just... sliced him in half pretty much... and mumbled more... before she went around some more... and ended up killing most of the people in the North of the village before passing out... so then we dragged her back to her hut and left her there... That last bit only happened not even a month ago. Today was the first time she's walking into the village since then, so we're all more shaky than usual." The old man finished the final part of the story. By now slightly shaken, Robin didn't even want to know if she was a friend or a foe. Of course, Luffy could probably beat her in the end, so foe would probably not be that much of an issue, but having someone on board who suddenly goes on a fucking killing spree?!

Back on the road, Robin and Chopper walked silently towards the ship until they heard a loud noise, a couple of streets away. It sounded like a building collapsing! Both out of curiosity and concern, they hurried towards the collapsed building and found a familiar blonde half-buried in the rubble.

"SANJI!!!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sweet sweet genocide~  
> (I may or may not have enjoyed both writing this and murdering everything in Undertale)  
> (I may or may not be a (slightly) sadistic person)


	5. A Warning

"SANJI!!!" Two cried out.  
"DOCTOR! DOCTOR! WHERE IS A DOCTOR!!! Oh wait, I am." Chopper realised and went to check on Sanji. He had just been laying in the rubble with a cigarette.  
"Cook-san, what happened?" Robin asked.  
"I met this beautiful lady, but she ended up throwing me into this wall. "He summarised while Chopper aided his wounds. They didn't have to know just how hard he had failed at wooing her.  
"So you're saying she just threw you into a wall without a reason?" Robin asked.  
"N-no..." Sanji admitted. Enough info for Robin to know just what had happened and for Sanji to know she knew, especially when she facepalmed herself and Sanji at the same time, the latter using her flower fruit extravaganza.

"We should probably go back to the ship." Sanji said after Chopper had finished the check up. In the meantime Robin had explained to him who she was and her lovely background.  
"Why is that?" Chopper asked.  
"Well... This Amie goes around, checking ships that arrive here, right?" Sanji asked.  
"Yeah." Chopper confirmed.  
"And there's probably still just one person on our ship." Sanji continued and Robin nodded.  
"Are we sure we can trust Marimo with such a responsibility?" Sanji then asked. Chopper hesitated,  
but Robin said, "I'm sure swordman-san will be able to handle this.".  
"Well maybe, but can we trust this Amie to not just go wild anyway?" Sanji then asked.  
"....yeah we should go." Chopper agreed and Robin nodded. And so the three of then hurried back to the ship.

\----------

A not so healthy sounding crack and a small grunt disrupted the silence of the forest. The red clad woman mumbled some strange words as she continued walking with her right hand against her back. She had seen some unfamiliar faces around town today after being told there was a new ship. By the looks of them, they didn't seem that troublesome, except for that blond guy... Though she wasn't so sure about those thoughts, especially once she saw that it was a pirate ship, a bit of a weird one as well! They hadn't told her it was, or did they... Maybe... However, it was a big ship. It had a sun with a face, no wait that's a lion, as the front. There didn't seem to be anyone on deck and it was awfully quiet. So she tried climbing up the ladder, but a painful hiss after climbing just one step up the ladder and she lifted herself onto the ship instead, using two metal arms wrapped around the handrails.

She sighed as she looked around and began her search for people.  
No one in the living room.  
No one in the dorms.  
No one in the cargo hold.  
No one anywhere.  
She sighed again once she had returned to the grassy deck. There was only one more place to check out, the oversized crow's nest above her, but she decided to lay down for a bit, maybe for a rest. Though her breath started doing weird things and she winced every now and then, but soon everything went back to normal and so she got up and, without even trying the , she again lifted herself onto the platform using her metal arms.

The crow's nest was gigantic! It was bigger than some of the houses in the village! Heck it even seemed to have two stories! It looking like a circus tent with those red and yellow striped walls didn't exactly help either... Not that it was much of an eye sore, it looked kinda good and amazingly made! There's a reason why crow's nests are usually small...

And so Amie opened the door and walked inside. She looked around and there wasn't that much.  
There was a long couch along the walls, so it was at least still a crow's nest and not some other room.  
There was also a cupboard and some kind of bed... Or just a matrass really...  
There were also some dumbbells laying around, big dumbbells!   
There was a blade in front of her face.

Wait...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short again, I'm sorry.  
> The thing is, all of Volume 1 used to be a lot shorter and rather badly written, considering I wrote it about 2-3 years ago. I'm actually rather proud of how much I managed to get out of Volume 1 in the end.


	6. An Unpleasant Surprise

There was a blade in front of her face. Amie looked into the direction from which the blade came from. A man, who was holding the katana, stood there. A tall, muscular, beast of a man who looked like he could and would kill her the moment she moved. He wore a creamy white shirt, black pants, boots and a green, vertically striped belly band which matched his unusual green hair. Three sheaths were bound to his right hip with rope, which was tucked away under the bellyband. Two of the sheaths still held katana's, the last was in his hand, obviously. But three katana's?

"Who are you?! What are you doing on our ship?!" He asked rather aggressively.  
"Who I am doesn't matter. I'm just here to see if you lot are troublesome or not." The woman calmly told the green-haired man, both evading and answering his questions. Zoro raised an eyebrow. She was here to see if he and the others were troublesome? Okay, fine, but what was she going to do about it? Run and tell some guys to come fuck them up? She didn't exactly look like she could take anyone on my herself. She was just so... small... Nothing compared to Chopper of course, but she was still a good head smaller than him! She was thin and didn't seem to be showing any kind of strength. Even if Zoro shouldn't lower his guard over a thing like that, she looked so fragile! As if he could break her if he only touched her!  
"We weren't planning on it." Zoro told her. "Though ero-cook might be terrorising some women." He then added.  
"But we will be if we have to!" Zoro then warned her.  
"I see." The woman said, turned back around and walked away.

After hearing some loud noises, Zoro quickly followed the strange woman and saw the small woman, floating in midair, with four giant dark grey arms sprouting from her back! "Wait!!!" He shouted. The woman noticed and turned around and waited for what he had to say, but Zoro didn't really know what. He didn't even know why he shouted in the first place! He had to think of something!  
"U-uhm... How long does it take for the log post to set?" He quickly asked. At least it was a useful question.  
"Around two months I'm afraid. I don't know if we have any eternal log posts, but this island doesn't get many visitors, so don't count on it." She told him. Zoro understood, but there was one noise that caught his ears.

"Are you hungry?" He asked her and she flinched.  
"N-no I'm fine. Well maybe a little bit, but I was going to eat after this anyways." She quickly told him.  
"You can have some of our food, if you want." He offered her.  
"Well... Uhm..." She hesitated. "It would mean I wouldn't have to go to town to pick up food for the rest of the day...." She mused to herself.  
"If it's really okay, then yes please." She answered. Zoro led her to the kitchen and opened a few cupboards and the fridge for some leftovers.  
"Here, this is still fresh." Zoro said and handed her a baguette. She hesitatedly grabbed it and held it in front of her. She continued looking at it, deep in thought for a while, before looking up again.  
"Thanks again! Well I'll be off then." She thanked him and left.

Zoro was sitting on the couch, back in the crow's nest, resting after another workout. That strange woman had been crossing his mind again. He wondered who she was. Usually he could sense in some way if a person was strong, which is why he rarely got surprised by someone's strength or skill, just not what kind of strength or skill, though weapon skills required weapons, so those are a giveaway. He knew because either they looked strong or they showed some sort of confidence. She didn't. She just walked into this place like a lamb into a slaughterhouse! Yet she possessed that, probably devil fruit, power! When he saw the small figure floating in the air, held up by those grey arms, it scared him. Not much, barely noticeable, but he felt it and it annoyed him to his core. How was he going to protect his friends if he couldn't detect the strength of possible enemies. Had that woman attacked, he would've been taken by surprise!

Yet it fascinated him in some way. Why was she like that? Why did it seem like she'd have rather died than have come here? Was it just something she had trained? Those were some of the questions floating around in Zoro's head after their brief encounter. He usually didn't give them much thought, everyone had a different life, but he kind of wanted to know more now. Besides, if it's really going to take two months before they can leave, why not just go and see if he can answer some of those questions?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still short ._.


	7. Sparked Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shortest filler chapter ever.

Sanji, Robin and Chopper were relieved to see the ship still in tact once they got there. They quickly searched the ship for a corpse with green hair laying around somewhere. They found it, but it wasn't a corpse.  
"Zoro!" Chopper shouted when he found Zoro, deep in thought, in the crow's nest.  
"What?" Zoro asked as he shot back into reality.  
"Thank god nothing happened..." Chopper then said, relieved.  
"Was something supposed to happen?" Zoro asked him, confused.  
"Did a woman in red pass by?" Robin asked and Zoro did recall that woman being predominantly red.  
"Yeah, she did." He told her.  
"And? What happened?" She continued.  
"She asked if we were troublesome, I said no, then she left." Zoro briefly explained.  
"Thank god..." Sanji, who had also joined in, mused.  
"Still, what was supposed to happen? She looked weaker than a mouse!" Zoro told them. Well, except for that power, but mice ca-  
"Well mice can bite." Chopper said. Yeah... that...

"You see, we heard some stories about her today and well, they weren't exactly 'pleasant' most of the time." Robin explained and proceeded to tell him the stories that man had told her. Zoro mainly nodded during those. In the end, what he understood was that she was able to protect the island with some sort of metal power, she had social struggles, did NOT like being disturbed and there was something wrong with her, mentally. To be honest, those stories sounded made up compared to who he had seen that day.

"Maybe we shouldn't tell the others about this, especially Luffy!" Chopper then stated.  
"Why not? She sounds interesting." Robin asked. Even if she had her doubts about that woman, Robin couldn't help but being interested. Besides, they had dealt with worse.  
"Because Luffy would want her to join immediately!" Chopper told her.  
"Another lady on board would be nice~" Sanji swooned.  
"B-but she's so scary!" Chopper admitted.  
"And we're not?" Zoro asked Chopper with an extra scary face.  
"IIIIIIIIIIIIIII"

That evening, the Strawhats were all back on the ship, talking about their day. Nami hadn't finished her map yet, so she's going back tomorrow (with Usopp), Luffy and Franky found a cat. Luffy wanted to pet it, but he only got scratches everywhere in the end... Of course, Robin, Chopper and Sanji's day was the most exciting, but Chopper had eventually convinced them to not tell the others about it just yet.

Through the evening, Zoro was rather silent. Barely listening to what the others were talking about. While Luffy, Usopp and Chopper danced, Zoro mostly speculated about that woman, Amie.  
"Zoooroooo." Nami chanted and waved her hand in front if his face.  
"Wha?!" Zoro said and shot up.  
"You alright? You've been staring at the wall for a while now!" Nami asked him.  
"Yeah I'm fine. I just spaced out for a second." Zoro told her and joined the jolly bunch until he eventually went to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This used to be a 300 word chapter. I ended up with about 400.  
> You might be thinking, 'Why does she not merge those short parts if she thinks they're so short?'  
> Well that's because I didn't want to lose views on wattpad, which is where this story was published originally (and still is).
> 
> Please bear with my super short filler chapter, after this, they'll get longer again c:


	8. The Orphans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tadaaa~  
> Something over four times as long as the last chapter :D

The next day, it was Sanji's turn to watch over the ship. Zoro walked into town together with the others, but soon walked into his own direction. Where he was headed? No idea. Just something related to that weird woman (or booze).

Soon he walked into a strange part of town. The place was deserted! It didn't seem like it had been deserted for long though. The plants barely seemed 'wild' and the houses still seemed intact. Just as if people had all forgotten to take care of their properties for a year or so, that was it, and if only one building has been like that it'd have been fine, but literally every building was like that!

Zoro walked through the ghostly streets for a while, until he heard... children? Yeah, he heard children laughing somewhere! He followed the sound until he saw a small group of children playing in the middle of a street. As he got closer to the group, he could hear them chant,  
"Ring around the rosey, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down!" And then they all fell down, got up and sang the strange rhyme again, dancing in a circle, and they continued, until one of them noticed the tall man walking towards them. The bunch then quickly stopped and hid behind each other.  
"Who the hell are you?!" The biggest kid shouted at Zoro.  
"Someone who can shut you up very quickly, you little brat!" Zoro shouted back, getting angry like he usually does.  
"Oh yeah?! Come at me bro!" The kid shouted and attacked Zoro by jumping onto him, followed by most of the other kids, knocking him onto the ground.  
"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!!!" Zoro shouted angrily while trying to pluck the annoying kids from his legs, arms, chest, one was attacking his head, OI DON'T TOUCH THE SWORDS!!!

"Stop it!" A female voice shouted at the bunch of kids (which included Zoro) and they all looked up to see a woman looking down at them.  
"They started it!" Zoro childishly replied.  
"It doesn't matter who started! All of you, stop it!" She commanded them and the bunch of kids got off of Zoro. "Now tell him you're sorry!" The woman continued and the kids all muttered their excuses. "Now go." She told them and they walked off. "I'm so sorry sir! The kids have just been through quite a bit, that's all." She apologised to Zoro as she helped him up.  
"It's fine, I guess."  
"Anyways, I'm Gilly. I'm the caretaker of these kids."  
"I'm Roronoa Zoro. Wait, aren't you that old man's granddaughter?"  
"I guess, how do you know?"  
"He told some of our friends some stories."  
"You mean the raven-haired woman and her pet reindeer? I see. Anyways, what brings a pirate like yourself to this old part of town?"  
"Well I have to entertain myself for two months apparently and I kinda wanna know more about this Amie." He told her honestly. Maybe she knew more about her.  
"I understand. She is indeed a bit of an 'interesting subject' in this town." Gilly admitted and laughed a bit.

"Well then, what would you like to know?" Gilly asked Zoro. She had lead him to the orphanage and were now sitting in a living area. The children were still playing outside mostly, some were up in their rooms, which the two could hear.  
"Well... When Amie came to check on us, she was... different from the so-called evil protector from the stories." Zoro explained.  
"No wonder! Because she's really not as bad as people think!"  
"How come?" Zoro asked and Gilly started.

"This place, this forgotten part of town, where we're at right now, is where Amie...went mad..." She said.  
"So these kids parents...?" Zoro asked carefully.  
"NO, no, no. These children have been orphans since several pirate attacks before Amie came, but that's a different story. Anyways, back to what happened that day. Not that I know very much about it. I had been busy around the orphanage as I was an orphan myself, when I heard people screaming."

_"_ _Gilly_ _!_ _Gilly_ _!"_ _Hayley_ _and_ _Dennis_ _shouted_ _as_ _they_ _rushed_ _inside_ _.  
"_ _Calm_ _down_ _!_ _What's_ _wrong_ _!"_ _Gilly_ _tried_ _and_ _held_ _the_ _shaking_ _children_ _.  
"_ _It's_ _that_ _red_ _woman_ _!_ _She's_ _killing_ _people_ _!"_ _Hayley_ _said_ _.  
"_ _Well_ _..._ _That's_ _nothing_ _out_ _of_ _the_ _ordinary_ _,_ _you_ _know_ _..."_ _Gilly_ _told_ _the_ _kids_ _reluctantly_ _._ _Dennis_ _then_ _shook_ _his_ _head_ _.  
"_ _No_ _,_ _it's_ _different_ _this_ _time_ _!_ _She's_ _killing_ _**our**_ _people_ _!"_ _He_ _shouted_ _.  
_ _Gilly was shocked! She had known Amie was killing people, but only bad people who were going to hurt the villagers, so it was fine, but killing the villagers was different! Why would Amie even attack them?! Had they not been kind enough?! Time and time again had the villagers tried to show her their gratitude, but Amie had always shrugged them off herself. Was she maybe... tired of having to protect this island? Then why couldn't she just quit?! Amie had been protecting them at the cost of many lives, so why would she throw it all in vain, instead of just telling the villagers she no longer wanted to? Of course, most of the villagers had been taking her for granted now, but they would understand, wouldn't they? So why, just_ _ **why**_ _would she kill the villagers?!_  
R-right!" Gilly eventually said and pulled the children inside. "Roy, Ellie, you two go and get some food, water and blankets and put those in the basement. Hayley, Dennis, you two go and get everyone here!" Gilly quickly commanded the four kids around her.

_"Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen... Wait, I must've missed someone. Everyone, get back in line!" Gilly panicked and children got into a horizontal line in front of her. The whole group consisted of twenty-three children, including herself. Roy and Ellie were still busy with the supplies, she didn't have to count herself, so there should be a total of twenty children in the room. It was near lunchtime, so everyone should be indoors, but no matter how often she recounted the children, someone was still out there!_  
"Oh no, no, no! Who are we missing guys?!" She quickly asked the children and they all looked around. Names were thrown around, but they all seemed present, until,  
"Teddy! We're missing Teddy!" Wade shouted from the back.  
"Teddy? But she was just here!" Gilly shouted, mostly at herself. Why would Teddy leave? She was the oldest after herself, fifteen years old, and she was very protective of her group.  
"James, do you know where your sister went?" Gilly asked James, Teddy's twelve years old brother.  
"S-she uhm..." He hesitated.  
"Tell me, James!"   
"She went to take on Amie!"  
"W-what?" Gilly stumbled, completely thrown off guard. Teddy had always been a bit of a rebel, or a 'heroine' as she called herself, but she wasn't crazy! She knew better than this! Gilly gulped and sighed, but made up her mind.  
"Everyone, get to the basement and don't open it until you hear me knock five times, okay?"  
"But Gilly, what about you?" Small Jennifer asked.  
"Someone has to go get that lunatic back inside! Don't worry, I'll be fine, just do as I say okay?" Gilly told her reassuringly and the little girl nodded.

_"Teddy! Teddy!" Gilly shouted as she ran through the streets. It had been eerily quiet. "Teddy!" She shouted again, before stopping to catch her breath. That idiot! What was she supposed to accomplish by doing this? 'Defeating Amie, so everyone would be saved?' That naive idiot!_ _Gilly_ _wanted_ _to_ _continue_ _running_ _,_ _until_ _she_ _heard_ _someone_ _else's_ _foot_ _steps_ _._ _Gilly_ _looked_ _around_ _and_ _saw_ _Teddy_ _at_ _the_ _end_ _of_ _the_ _street_ _. "_ _Teddy_ _!"_ _Gilly_ _called_ _out_ _,_ _relieved_ _,_ _and_ _ran_ _towards_ _her_ _as_ _quickly_ _as_ _she_ _could_ _.  
"_ _Go_ _away_ _!_ _Leave_ _us_ _alone_ _,_ _you_ _monster_ _!"_ _Gilly_ _heard_ _Teddy_ _shout_ _at_ _someone_ _._ _That_ _someone_ _was_ _Amie_ _,_ _slowly_ _walking_ _towards_ _the_ _teenager_ _.  
"Teddy, __no_ _!_ _Get_ _away_ _from_ _her_ _!_ _You're_ _no_ _match_ _for_ _her_ _!"_ _Gilly_ _warned_ _her_ _.  
"_ _Shut_ _up_ _,_ _Gilly_ _!_ **_Someone_** _has_ _to_ _protect_ _the_ _others_ _!"  
_ _"_ ** _Protecting_** _is_ _getting_ _everyone_ _to_ _a_ _safe_ _place_ _where_ _she_ _can't_ _find_ _them_ _!_ ** _This_** _is_ _suicide_ _!"  
_ _"_ _Whatever_ _Gilly_ _!_ _Then_ _go_ _and_ _get_ _them_ _somewhere_ _safe_ _and_ _I'll_ _buy_ _you_ _time_ _!"_ _Teddy_ _shouted_ _back_ _,_ _stubborn_ _as_ _always_ _._

_Gilly_ _wanted_ _to_ _shout_ _more_ _,_ _but_ _Amie_ _had_ _reached_ _Teddy_ _already_ _. "_ _I-I'm_ _not_ _afraid_ _,_ _you_ _know_ _!"_ _Teddy_ _shouted_ _at_ _the_ _slightly_ _bloody_ _woman_ _,_ _who_ _didn't_ _respond_ _and_ _continued_ _her_ _slow_ _pace_ _._ _Eventually_ _,_ _Teddy_ _ran_ _for_ _it_ _and_ _shouted_ _while_ _she_ _charged_ _at_ _the_ _walking_ _woman_ _,_ _who_ _still_ _wouldn't_ _notice_ _her_ _._ _When_ _she_ _finally_ _did_ _and_ _locked_ _her_ _crazed_ _,_ _red_ _eyes_ _on_ _her_ _,_ _Teddy_ _stopped_ _._ _Stopped_ _and_ _cowered_ _back_ _until_ _she_ _fell_ _down_ _._ _She_ _didn't_ _get_ _a_ _chance_ _to_ _say_ _sorry_ _,_ _before_ _she_ _got_ _impaled_ _and_ _thrown_ _into_ _a_ _wall_ _like_ _so_ _many_ _others_ _before_ _her_ _that_ _day_ _."_ _TEDDYYYYYY_ _!!!"_ _Gilly_ _screamed_ _and_ _wanted_ _to_ _run_ _towards_ _the_ _now_ _collapsed_ _wall_ _,_ _but_ _her_ _scream_ _had_ _apparently_ _alerted_ _the_ _red_ _woman_ _,_ _as_ _Gilly_ _barely_ _missed_ _certain_ _death_ _,_ _but_ _got_ _hit_ _nonetheless_ _._ _The_ _next_ _thing_ _she_ _knew_ _she_ _was_ _running_ _._ _First_ _she_ _was_ _running_ _out_ _of_ _instinct_ _,_ _then_ _to_ _escape_ _her_ _,_ _then_ _to_ _get_ _back_ _to_ _her_ _other_ _children_ _._ _She_ _might_ _not_ _have_ _been_ _able_ _to_ _save_ _one_ _,_ _but_ _she_ _was_ _damn_ _sure_ _going_ _to_ _save_ _the_ _others_ _!_

"What happened then?" Zoro asked.  
"Well, I got back to the orphanage and hid behind the table until I saw Amie walk by. I still have a scar in my side since that day." Gilly finished her story. Zoro was rather quiet for a while.  
"Those kids seem rather happy though... And what about Teddy's brother?"  
"James? Well... He had a lot of trouble progressing the loss of his sister, unlike the others. You see, due to pirate attacks, we've almost all seen someone die, especially the older ones. May it be some random stranger, a parent or one of our own."

"I guess it's still a bit confusing, isn't it. First I tell you she's not that bad and then I tell you a story about her killing people... Not one of my best moments..." Gilly admitted and laughed weakly.  
"Then how is she not that bad?"  
"Well after a while, Amie came back."


	9. Relapse

Zoro was once again walking. Without any intentions this time, really. He was still thinking about Gilly's story, especially the last bit. It didn't make much sense and he wasn't able to answer most of his questions. In fact, he only got more! The only thing the last bit of her story did good, was indeed making it clear that there was something wrong! Okay, yes, she didn't seem as much of a bad person as she seemed before, but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing...

_Gilly was walking around a bit. Because of the hit she had taken a few days ago, she hadn't been able to walk around at all, both because of the pain and the children pretty much sitting on her limbs to keep her in bed. Today, she had managed to sneak out. It was still early in the morning, the sun had only just risen, and the children were still sleeping. Gilly wasn't going to walk for long, just around the block really, though she made quite a few stops to assess the damage. She walked towards an intersection, when she saw an all too familiar image appear from the left. The red-clad woman Gilly had grown to both fear and hate in the last few days, was walking around, like Gilly, looking around and taking in the changed environment. Gilly, wanting to make sure she could get the kids safe if that woman was planning another rage, followed her and made her short walk a little longer than planned._

_However, there didn't seem to be another attack coming. The previously destructive woman was simply walking around, silently, almost carefully, stopping at almost every house she had damaged to take a good look. Gilly, to be honest, was a bit confused. Maybe miss red wanted to see just how much she had destroyed, quite possible, but why? To see what she was capable of? To count the bodies she found, so she can add them to her list?! Those were the first things Gilly thought, but guilt didn't seem to com to mind. After all, why would she feel guilty? If she hadn't wanted this to happen, then why did she do it in the first place?! But the longer Gilly followed her, the more guilt seemed like the reason for walking around. Amie seemed to take longer stops and if Gilly focused, she could see Amie clutching her hands._

_Once Amie was infront of a big building she had destroyed with one big metal arm the other day with bloodied corpses littered around, she stopped and wouldn't continue walking. She just stared at the broken building which used to be a nice bar and hotel and previous_ _cluthich turned into trembling._ _Gilly then found herself brave enough to get a bit closer, close enough to hear sniffling noises. At that moment, Gilly was almost one hundred percent positive that Amie was feeling bad about what had happened. For whatever reason, even though she had done it all by herself, she still felt guilt. Had it just been some random blind rage or something?! Gilly then continued to watch as the woman infront of her slowly collapsed onto her knees. "I....I just....I just...." She stumbled out as her soft sniffles became louder and louder sobs. "I.......I never.....I never wanted to........I just......" She got out of her throat before collapsing on her forearms and crying out. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She continued to cry out between loud sobs. Gilly didn't know why, but she felt like comforting Amie. Telling her it was okay, except that it wasn't. What she had done should be unforgivable and Gilly wouldn't be surprised if the villagers would try to get her off of this island, though she also wouldn't be surprised if the villagers left Amie alone as to not upset her and cause her to go on a rampage again. And yet Gilly still felt herself slowly walking towards the broken woman infront of her. Seeing people so distraught just made Gilly feel empathy._

**_Snap!_ ** _Gilly stood on a stupid little branch and fell down in shock and fear when Amie's broken, sulking form turned into a defensive one, with a few metal arms in front of her and a gaze that pierced Gilly's very soul, but once the woman saw no danger, she softened and got up to help Gilly up, but when she moved closer, Gilly moved further away. Amie soon got the picture and stopped walking. "Did I scare you?" Amie gently asked. Gilly did not move. "I'll take that as a yes." She confirmed and she sighed. "You were there, weren't you. Oh who am I kidding, even if you hadn't been there, you'd still be afraid of me! Who wouldn't be afraid of a monster who suddenly goes around, destroying buildings and killing people!!!" Amie's sudden outburst didn't exactly help the situation. All empathy Gilly had felt before, had been replaced with fear. She could see it again, the red clad woman wearing more red things than clothing, standing before her and ready to kill once she felt like it. "You've seen me, I'm sure of it. I know that look, that feeling. I've felt it myself." Amie tried and smiled softly, trying to make the least amount of sudden movements. "I once saw someone close to me kill someone, more than one person actually. Afterwards, everytime I saw him, I was afraid. I just couldn't look at him the way I used to, I only saw that person, covered in blood and I feared that I was gonna be next. Luckily, it didn't last. I take it you've also had nightmares." Amie calmly told Gilly. She had indeed been having nightmares about the day. Amie then sat down. "You're probably wondering why I did this. I...can't really say why... All you need to know is that it'll never happen again. I just hope the villagers will believe that. I doubt they will..." She told her and stared at the ground. Soon she started sobbing again. "I...I...don't want to leave... I finally found a place nice...and I fucked it all up!!!" She shouted and buried her hands into her strange red hair, pulled up her knees, and started sobbing again. "I...just don't want to leave... Not again..." Gilly then finally found the courage to get up from the ground, supress the image of Amie she feared and walk to her to comfort her. Except that she collapsed the moment she stood up._   
_"F-fuck!" Gilly softly cursed. Her wound had reopened. Not that it had been stitched at all, just 'patched' with bandaids by the children._   
_"A-are you okay?!"_   
_"Y-yeah, just..." Gilly said for some reason, though she was obviously not okay. She then felt herself being rolled onto her back and her shirt got pulled up to uncover her wound. The cool air burned like hell._   
_"Holy shit! You need stitching!" Amie shouted._   
_"Yeah, no shit!" Gilly shouted sarcastically. The wound was burning too much for obvious remarks. She then felt a small leathery plate being shoved between her teeth and leatherly cilinders between her hands._   
_"I'm sorry about this, but I can't carry you to a doctor fast enough and I don't have any anaesthetics."_   
_"W-wait, what are you doing?!"_   
_"Please trust me with this. I know what I'm doing."_

After the whole event, Gilly had passed out from the pain and woken up back in her bed with Amie waiting beside her. Amie then vowed to do whatever she could to make up for what she had done, even if that would never be possible. She'd help with the children, the house and would give most of the money from the bounties she reeled in, but she could only do this if the children helped by replacing the children that used to spot the ships for her, since the previous children were now scared of her. Since then she often visited the household and even though she never forgave herself, Gilly and the children had made sure she felt as home as much as they could.

Zoro had actually just missed Amie. The rhyme the children had been singing was a rhyme Amie had taught them only half an hour before he had showed up. Thus he decided to finally go and meet Amie in person. Again, his mental image was strange. It was no longer a calm woman with a bad temper, but rather a seemingly calm woman with dangerous issues. Even if she had interested him, he hoped by fate that either Luffy never meets her or her issues aren't too dangerous. Luckily, her devil fruit seemed to be some sort of metal fruit, which he could cut through, but he wouldn't be able to do anything if Luffy forbade him to.

Soon, a small shack came into view. To Zoro it was rather clear that Amie was the one who lived in it. After all, who else would want to live so far away from the village? Unless it's someone's storage shed, in which case it would still be a bit weird and far away. Getting closer, he saw that the door was open. Not slightly, but almost wide open! Someone either has nothing to steal or is really careless... And also not present, which made Zoro wonder if Amie really did live there. If Amie had indeed only been gone for half an hour since he had arrived and he'd been there for an hour at most, wouldn't she have enough time to get home? Well, she could have left again, of course.

Zoro didn't even have to touch the door to see what was inside the small shack: a bed, a table, a cupboard, blue sky...

Zoro had been thrown against a tree. He quickly sat up and rubbed his back. "What the hell?!" He shouted as he looked at who- or whatever threw him. Amie was standing in front of him, a paper bag in her arms, with a metal arm in front of her. "Why did you throw me?!" Zoro shouted at her.  
"Why did you break into my house?! You know, just because I let pass last time doesn't mean I won't change my mind!" Amie threatened.  
"Wha- Break in?! The door was open! I didn't do anything!" Zoro defended.  
"Yeah right! I'm goddamn sure I locked the door when I left!"  
"Well it wasn't!" Zoro finally said.  
"Then... did I..." She then started doubting and seemed confused. Very confused. Maybe even stressed out. Stressed out because she forgot to lock the door and left it open? She didn't even go in to check if anything was stolen, she was literally just freaking out over the door! But she managed to shake it off.  
"Anyways, what are you doing here? There isn't anything but woods here, you know." Amie said as she put the paper bag inside on the table.  
"Well, you know. Since I'm apparently stuck here for two months and since I heard some 'interesting tales', I thought I'd visit you."  
"...Are you so bored you visit the one person who kills?"  
"All of us have killed, pretty much."  
"Yes, but have you ever killed any of your own?"  
"Of course not!"  
"Well I have! So I don't thi-"  
"Yeah, I know." Zoro casually said. Amie frowned.  
"Then... shouldn't you, I dunno, be staying away from me, or something?" She said, as if it was the obvious and common thing to do.  
"Well I also heard the other part of that story."  
".......Gilly told you, didn't she..." Amie sighed.  
"Yes, was she not supposed to?" Zoro asked, confused and slightly disappointed in Gilly for breaking a promise.  
"Yes. Well. No... I never told her I didn't want her to tell the others, but no one ever went to the old part of town. They all think I still haunt that place and kill anyone who I come across. I guess I should've told her, just to be on the safe side."  
"Why wouldn't you want others to know? Maybe they'd forgiv-"  
"LIKE HELL!!! I'VE DONE NOTHING BUT KILL AND DESTROY!!! I'M FUCKING GLAD THEY DIDN'T KICK ME OUT YESTERDAY!!!" Amie suddenly snapped, but she quickly calmed down. "Besides... It's better this way. If they stay away, I can't hurt them, right?" She softly said and laughed weakly.

Amie then walked inside. "You planning on staying?" She asked Zoro.  
"You mind?"  
"Well, a bit. I can't really do anything with you here..." Amie started. "But then again, there's really nothing to do right now." She said as she threw Zoro an orange. Apparently the bag had been filled with them, allong with apples.  "I'll warn you though, I'm not a very talkative person."


	10. Awkward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MTV cribs up in this bitch

Zoro had taken the orange as a cue to come into the house. It was indeed very, very small. A normal bedroom might actually have more room than this. Then again, there literally was only a bed, a table and a cupboard, so room wasn't really necessary.  
"Right... I don't have chairs..." Amie mused to herself and scratched her head.  
"Then where do you sit?" Zoro asked while peeling his orange. He didn't really know where to put the peels.  
"The bed isn't that close to the table without a reason." Amie said. She told him to just throw them outside. "You can sit on the bed if you want. It's clean. I'll just sit on the table." She then told him.

After the two sat down, after Amie had given Zoro a bottle of wine and the one glass she owned and herself the bottle she had been drinking out for a while, they got ready to talk. Which they were not...not really...  
"You don't drink much, do you." Zoro noticed.  
"Well, I just always drink alcohol from the bottle." Amie replied, talking about the single glass.  
"Do you drink anything else?" He asked her. There wasn't a fridge or anything here, so how was she supposed to store other drinks? Or food?  
"I mostly drink water from the river. I don't drink much alcohol."  
"Wait... so you go to the river everything you're thirsty for a single glass of water?"  
"First of all, the river is close by. Second of all, no, I grab water every morning with that bucket over there." Amie said as she pointed at the bucket in the corner of the room. Zoro nodded.

Then, a long uncomfortable silence passed the two as they silently sipped their own drinks, trying to come up with things to talk about. Zoro didn't really want to confront her with questions about just what the fuck happened during her rampage in the old town, but he couldn't come up with any different things. Amie finally gave up after a while and sighed in slight frustration.  
"God, it's been way too fucking long since I've talked to people..." She said. Then she frowned at her own choice of words and looked at the bottle, before putting it away.  
"It's fine. I'm not really helping here either." Zoro sighed.  
"Anything you wanna ask me about?"  
"Will you answer my questions?"  
"Probably not, but it's better than silence."  
"I see..." Zoro said, but didn't start asking his questions. If she wasn't going to answer them, then why bother asking them in the first place?

Another thing that didn't exactly help ease the tension was the extra tension radiating off of Amie. She hadn't put away the alcohol just because she had said something she thought was strange. Back on the ship when they first met, she at least hadn't seemed very tense, but right now she was, like he was on the ship, ready to kill him if she deemed necessary. Maybe because she hadn't expected to talk longer to him than those few words back at the ship, maybe because she was rather territorial and he was invading her personal space, probably because she didn't trust him one bit. He didn't blame her, considering they had almost literally just met and he was still a wanted pirate, her permission to pass the island or not.

Amie then chuckled out of nowhere.  
"What." Zoro asked.  
"It's just funny. This is the first time anyone who I let pass this island has come to meet me."  
"How come? You seem pretty interesting compared to the rest of this village."  
"Well, even if they wanted, people would warn them about me, that I could be dangerous if annoyed or something, and give them a few examples of the past and then they'd be too scared to come meet me. Especially all the way here." She told him. "Gilly and the kids are the only ones that come visit me, though usually just to drag me back to their home for whatever reason they come up with."

"Can you explain me something though?" Zoro then asked.  
"Depends." Amie replied.  
"What's with Gilly? She told me she was an orphan, but she has her grandpa, doesn't she?" He tried anyways. Amie puffed out her breath and scratched her neck, while she thought of a good way to explain.  
"Well you see, Gilly isn't exactly an orphan, her parents just gave her away. Her father never bothered to tell his dad, Gilly's granddad, about the child and so he never knew about Gilly. Gilly's real parents...died...during the 'thing' that happened, back in the old town, and then Gilly's granddad was informed that his son had a daughter. The two finally met and the old man tried to get her to come live with him, but she couldn't leave the children behind, even if I could take care of them while she's gone, which she didn't tell her granddad for obvious reasons, and now she just visits him often." She concluded.  
"Oooh."

"So... Uhm... You had any crazy adventures?" Amie asked.  
"Yeah, we had some."  
"Any stories you can tell me?"  
"Why should I tell about my past if you won't even answer a question about yours?"  
"Good point."

"Say uhm, I've heard that your captain recruits some weird people." Amie said.  
"You calling me weird?"  
"Well, not you, but you guys have a cyborg and a 'demon child'... Am I in any danger of joining if I meet your captain?" Amie asked, getting to the point.  
"Probably. Is that a bad thing? I mean, yeah you got these guys to protect, but all the other villages and towns we've been at seem to do just fine."  
"Well... You know..."  
"You don't exactly live happily here either, do you."  
"Not really. But it's nice and quiet and predictable. Here I know exactly what to expect and there's very few things that can go wrong."  
"So you like keeping the same environment."  
"I... Guess... I just... Ugh, I've just experienced enough 'adventures' before I got here!" Amie told him, frustrated. Then Zoro shut up and another silence filled the room.

\----------

Luffy and Franky were walking through the forest, following a small river. Until Luffy noticed something.  
"Oooh, look, footprints!" He shouted happily.  
"Seem pretty fresh." Franky told him after investigating them.  
"Yosh! Let's follow them!"  
"Sure, why not." And so the two followed the trail.

Soon they too found the small shack.  
"Hellooooo~ Anybody home?" Luffy shouted and the door soon opened.  
"Yes?" The woman who answered the door asked.  
"Do you have anything fun?"  
"What?"  
"Apologies miss, our captain is a bit bored." Franky apologised.  
"Oh, it's fine, but I'm afraid-"  
"Owowow! Why is your hair so hot and squishy?!" Luffy shouted and blew on his now red finger. He then too got thrown against a tree.  
"Hey!" Luffy shouted, but then a metal pole stabbed the tree next to him.  
"DON'T. FUCKING. TOUCH. ME." The woman shouted aggressively.  
"Oi, what's your problem!" Franky shouted at her and got defensive. He then noticed Zoro next to him.  
"What happened?!" He asked Franky.  
"This psycho nearly stabbed Luffy for touching her hair!" Franky told him and pointed at the woman who kept Luffy in place with a strange trance-like stare and another metal spear to attack him if he moved. Luffy was busy dusting of his hat while getting ready to attack her in return, but Zoro beat him to it and he cut off the metal spears.  
"Amie, calm down! He's harmless!" He told the surprised woman. Of course he 'forgot' to mention that Luffy was harmless until angered, considering that would probably not help in this situation.  
"Harmless?" She questioned after she had somewhat calmed down. "The strawhat" She pointed out. "He's your captain! I keep track of the wanted posters you know and he is definitely not harmless!"  
"Okay, he's not harmless, but he won't fight unless he has a reason to. I wouldn't give him a reason if I were you!" He warned her and she backed off, for now at least.

"Wait... You know her?" Franky asked Zoro after he had calmed down Amie.  
"Not really. I was just talking to her before you guys showed up" Zoro replied. "You alright Luffy?" He asked his now standing captain.  
"Yeah, I'm fine." Luffy told him and turned towards Amie. "What the hell is your problem, stupid woman!" He shouted annoyed and pointed at her.  
"My problem?! You're the one randomly touching strangers!" She spat back and Luffy growled childishly. "You guys seriously answer to this guy?" She then asked the other two men.  
"Believe me, we still often wonder why we do, but yes, he's our captain." Zoro answered.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a thing I've been working on for a long time now.  
> I don't update very frequently, I'm afraid. Rather slow actually.
> 
> Though I must say that when people start commenting 'Please continue!' or 'I like this story' that I feel like writing more.


End file.
